EXCLUSIVE-LA billionaire Soon-Shiong, Guggenheim plot AEG bid

Photo

By Ronald Grover and Nadia Damouni

Los Angeles/New York Sept 24 (Reuters) - Los Angeles
billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong is putting together an investor
group to make a bid for Anschutz Entertainment Group, the
LA-based sports and real estate company, according to three
sources with knowledge of the deal.

Soon-Shiong, whose fortune is estimated at more than $7.2
billion, has joined forces for the AEG bid with private equity
firm Guggenheim Partners, which recently led a local group in
the purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball club.
Soon-Shiong and Guggenheim are expected to bring in additional
partners, two of the sources said.

AEG's assets include the Los Angeles Kings pro hockey team,
the Staples Center in Los Angeles and more than 120 sports or
entertainment venues around the world.

Founded by Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, AEG is close to
breaking ground on a new $1.2 billion football stadium in
downtown Los Angeles. The project is awaiting a commitment from
a National Football League team to relocate to the facility.

Soon-Shiong, an avid sports fan who owns a small piece of
the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, is particularly
interested in bringing a professional football team to Los
Angeles, and aims to buy a team or encourage one to move so it
can play in the new stadium, said one source.

AEG, which is operated by its president, Tim Leiweke, said
on Sept. 18 that it was exploring a sale of the company and had
retained Blackstone Advisory Partners. Blackstone is assembling
a list of potential buyers and is expected to provide interested
ones with financial information in the next few weeks, a person
close to the bidding told Reuters last week.

A spokesmen for Soon-Shiong and a spokeswoman for Guggenheim
had no comment. AEG's spokesman said it does not comment on
what he called "rumor and speculation".

Soon-Shiong, a surgeon and one-time professor at UCLA's
Medical School, created and sold two pharmaceutical companies
for a combined $8.6 billion. He is believed to be the wealthiest
person in Los Angeles, according to Forbes Magazine.

This spring, Soon-Shiong and hedge fund billionaire Steven
Cohen were among the unsuccessful bidders for the Dodgers.

Soon-Shiong is also a 5 percent owner of the Los Angeles
Lakers basketball team, which required him to be approved by the
National Basketball Association. The AEG buyer will need NBA
approval as well because AEG also owns a small stake in the
Lakers.

Soon-Shiong intends to put together a broad group of local
investors in a similar fashion to the one Guggenheim assembled
for the $2 billion purchase of the Dodgers in May, said one of
the people familiar with his plans. That investor group included
basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Sept. 21 that Soon-Shiong
attended the New York Giants-Carolina Panthers last week as a
guest of Panthers owner Jerry Richardson. The Panthers owner is
the former chairman of the NFL’s stadium committee.

In a statement to the Times earlier in the week, a
representative of Soon-Shiong wrote: “Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is
keenly aware that AEG is in play. We have the utmost respect for
Phil and Tim and what they have accomplished in entertainment
and sports and in revitalizing the downtown community."
“We clearly are interested in furthering this legacy for Los
Angeles,” the statement added.
AEG owns entertainment venues in 17 of the top 50 U.S.
markets, according to its web site. It owns the Los Angeles
Galaxy Major League Soccer team, possibly best-known for star
David Beckham, and AEG Live, which promotes concerts and other
live events.

Guggenheim has more than $160 billion in global assets under
management, according to its web site.

Soon-Shiong, 60, has been increasingly active in civic
causes. Born in South Africa to Chinese immigrant parents, he
has made large donations to two Los Angeles-area hospitals,
including one to reopen the problem-plagued Martin Luther King
hospital in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. His family
foundation has pledged $1 billion to create a national health
care information highway.

Last year, he founded NantWorks, a venture that aims to use
ultra-low power semiconductor technology and super-computing to
improve education, health care and other social services.

(Reporting By Ronald Grover in Los Angeles and Nadia Damouni in
New York. Editing by Jonathan Weber and Andrew Hay)

((ron.grover@thomsonreuters.com))
Keywords: AEG/SOON SHIONG

(C) Reuters 2012. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing, or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.